Tub And Bucket
by Elin B
Summary: A hot, quiet day on the ship: a fine day for doing laundry or lounging around in a tub out on the deck. Pre-timeskip, fluff, Zoro/Usopp.


Author's Notes: This was originally written for the LJ pairing community zosopp, for the prompt "shorts".

Beta'd by the amazing – and wonderfully patient – Tonko. Any remaining errors are my responsibility alone. Nitpicks and other concrit very welcome!

Spoilers/setting: After Thriller Bark, before Sabaody.

I've rated this a T due to some ogling, suggestivity and nudity.

DISCLAIMER: The characters and situations of One Piece were created and are owned by the fabulous Eiichiro Oda. They are used here without permission for diversionary purposes only. This fic may not be used for profit in any way, and ought not to be reproduced elsewhere without the writer's prior agreement.

Tub And Bucket

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Usopp sighed with pleasure as he slid into the big wooden tub full of cold water, wearing the green shorts he used for swimming and outdoor bathing. He'd taken the empty tub from the hold and carried it up to lawn deck, where there was more room and you didn't have to wipe up any water that spilled. He'd used a rubber hose that he'd attached to the closest water pipe in the ship's internal circulation – Franky had shown him how to do that safely before – and filled up the tub with water. Sanji must not have been using the water tap in the kitchen at the moment, or he'd have turned up by now to kick him in the head.

"Aaah... this is more like it," he said out loud, though no-one was listening. Ordinarily he might have found it a little boring to be by himself in such a big outdoor bath, but now he frankly didn't care. It was just way too hot.

For almost three full days now Sunny had been bathed in very hot and humid weather. Even the brief storm they'd sailed through yesterday, when a gigantic sea tanuki had popped up in the midst of it, hadn't really distilled the sticky warm air, only blown it about a bit. The sun had returned right away afterwards, too, soon beating down just as mercilessly as before. Nami said it would be cooler tomorrow, and Usopp believed her, but right _now_ the heat wave had him exhausted and he wanted nothing more than to be lying in cold water for hours.

Sadly, even Franky's well-built pipes couldn't keep the cold water quite as cold as Usopp would have wanted, but what he got still felt wonderful compared to the sticky air all around him. He'd intended to ask Luffy and Chopper if they wanted to join him, as the tub was big enough for three if the third person was Chopper and the second person wasn't Franky. There were life preservers for the Devil Fruits users. But the heat was too much for the reindeer: he'd zonked out in the shade on the lawn deck not far from where Usopp was. And this time, Luffy had joined him, sleeping hard after the huge amounts of broiled seaking he'd had for lunch.

Oh, well. Usopp stretched out as far as he could, arms hanging loosely outside the tub, toes sticking up and splashing languidly. For once no worrisome thoughts, no anxiety started to gnaw on him in his solitude. It was just too hot for any of that.

There was the sound of a door being opened nearby. From the boys' cabin? Usopp opened his eyes and saw Zoro walking in his direction, carrying his own water container. Usopp recognised it as the bucket the boys used to do laundry in: it was very big for a bucket, pretty much a mini-tub in itself. There was already hot water, soap, and a washing board in it.

Zoro put the bucket down just a few metres away from the tub, at the edge of the shade from the swing tree and the portside staircase to second deck. Then he nodded to Usopp and went back into the boys' cabin, returning seconds later with a big pile of clothes.

The swordsman was bare-chested and barefoot, and wasn't wearing his customary haramaki or his usual loose dark green trousers, but instead a pair of tighter black trousers Usopp had only seen a couple of times before, now all rolled up to just below the knee. The dark green trousers and the haramaki could be seen in the big whiffy pile of clothes, together with his three identical-looking white shirts, that sleeveless shirt he'd worn in Skypiea, the washed-out T-shirt he used as sleepwear on colder nights, and various boxer shorts.

He squatted down, put one of his shirts in the bucket and started to scrub it against the washing-board. Usopp looked on, leaning his arms on the edge of the big tub.

"Didn't you wash your clothes just the other day?" he said. Normally Zoro would only wash them once a week, and not change all that much before then. And he generally didn't take that big a pile of clothes to wash, either.

Zoro shrugged as he scrubbed, the warm soap water splashing up on his arms and chest. "S'pose so. It's just this damn heat. I ran out of clothes to wear after training."

"Huh". So it was hot enough that even Zoro had felt the need to change clothes after getting all sweaty. Impressive.

He stretched out again, luxuriating some more in the relatively cool water, while he still could. "You know, Franky's been working on a pool tied to the Docking System," he mentioned with a wistful sigh. "To lower into the sea so you keep the sea water inside, with a bottom and everything. Neat, huh? Hope he gets to finish it soon."

Zoro frowned a moment as if needing to visualise this, then nodded. "That's a cool idea."

Usopp steepled his fingers together and wove them through the water. "Like it makes any difference to _you_, Mr. I'll-Take-My-Morning-Swim-When-I-Like-No-Matter-How-Many-Sea-Monsters-Are-Around," he muttered, but good-naturedly. On a hot day like this he envied Zoro's strength and courage even more than usual. But on the other hand, he did want to encourage this sudden urge to do laundry while keeping Usopp company, both excellent intiatives as far as he was concerned.

He looked back at Zoro – it was getting a little hard not to – and blinked as he spotted two of his own clothes in the big pile, feeling oddly touched. Of course, they could just have gotten there by mistake, but he actually thought it more likely that Zoro was being quietly nice.

By now, Zoro had already finished two of his shirts and was wringing out his haramaki. The wet clean shirts were just put at the edge of the bucket now, dripping water on his bare toes.

"Oi, you can't just leave the clean clothes like that," Usopp objected. "Where are you going to hang them to dry?"

"Uh, I'm getting to that." Zoro looked around, frowning. "There was supposed to be a piece of string here." He got up, wiping his soapy hands on his already rather damp-looking trousers.

"I've got some in the boys' cabin you can use," Usopp suggested helpfully, raising his voice as Zoro had already turned around and started to retreat in that direction. Zoro waved in acknowledgment without turning around before he ducked into that dark room again: Usopp found the view pretty nice in those tight trousers.

Idly, he spent some time shifting place, letting his feet walk vertically on the side of the tub until he'd completed a half-circle, then ducked under the water to return to where he'd started. Thoughts turned slow and close and vibrant in the heat, the recent past and future dreams and all the little things of the day he knew he'd have to pay attention to, just not right now. He closed his eyes, listening to the sounds around him. The creaking sails, the snores from Luffy and Chopper, Brook playing his violin up in the crow's nest with the window open... From the helm, occasional bouts of conversation that was mostly too low to make out except for a "super!" now and then: Franky was keeping an eye on the ship's course – not that it moved much in this calm weather – while Robin was reading a book next to him, both underneath a big parasol Franky had put up.

He turned so drowsy that he didn't notice Zoro's return at first, not with those bare feet walking on the grass. All of a sudden, he was ambushed by a splash of soapy water on his face and shoulders.

"Hey!" he said out of surprise, not minding all that much: but Zoro had already moved out of range for easy retaliation. He was busy tying strings between the swing tree and the staircase. Usopp considered getting up to help him, but the knots seemed to hold well enough for now, so he lazily stayed put.

Zoro returned to the laundry bucket after hanging up the clean clothes, squatting down as he put more soap in. This time he grabbed the shirt Usopp had spotted before as one of his own.

"Hey, thanks for that," said Usopp appreciatively.

Zoro grunted. Usopp noted that he'd moved a bit, and so had the sun, making an enchanting picture of mottled shadows from the foliage above them on his back and shoulders and his short green hair, moving ever so little in the faintest of wind movements. "Got into the pile somehow," Zoro said with a shrug as he started scrubbing.

"Mmhm." Usopp's tone was neutral, in a let's-pretend-I-believe-that way. His fingers had started to itch: he wanted to draw the shadows on those muscles. He wanted to touch them more, though. Really really softly at first, just feathery brushes, but then closer and firmer and more steadily...

He swallowed and looked away for a moment, studying his toes dipping up and down into the water. For now, safer to stay right here.

"You've got weird spots on these," Zoro commented after some more scrubbing. "Not just gunpowder, either. Crazy chemical shit."

"Yeah, well..." Usopp shrugged in his turn; he couldn't deny that. "But it's still not half as sweaty and bloody as your clothes."

Zoro looked over at Usopp. "Hey," he said without smiling, "gimme those shorts you've got on. I can wash those too."

Usopp started. "Uh... But... but they're already in the water!" he squeaked, feeling his cheeks turn red.

"That doesn't make them clean," countered Zoro, which was true enough, and Usopp _had_ neglected the swim shorts last time he did his laundry – even if it was weird to see Zoro as the advocate of ultra-hygiene.

"And... and what if Nami and Robin suddenly come over here?" Usopp went on, dipping down further into the tub, all jittery by now.

He had never been particularly finicky about his modesty when he was in an all-boy space indoors, or even outdoors sometimes. It seemed rude when there were girls around, though, and Nami would likely punch him... plus, what an embarrassment to be caught in the nude if suddenly an enemy ship turned up. Not that there seemed to be any about on the horizon, thankfully.

It didn't really make sense to be _more_ self-concious when the request came from someone who was – Usopp shied away from the word 'boyfriend': it just wasn't a Zoro type of word – who was someone who'd you'd already done much more than just getting naked with. Or did it? Maybe it did.

He drummed his fingers on the edge of the wooden tub nervously. Was Zoro just being honestly practical, or was he just teasing – or maybe even flirting? Or some kind of confusing mix of all three?

Zoro had turned back his head and was now wringing out Usopp's shirt. "Well, you've got a towel right there," he said, thumb pointing towards a spot where he must think the towel Usopp had brought with him was lying. It was actually in the opposite direction entirely. "If the girls turn up you could just put it on right away."

"Yeah, okay, but then I'd have to get up out of the water," muttered Usopp. "And I don't wanna, not yet."

Zoro shrugged again. "Okay, then don't do it," he said easily. He went to hang the shirt to dry, and came back.

Usopp scowled at him in the way he tended to do when blushing and flustered. It shouldn't really matter, he told himself, annoyed. All right, so it was Zoro, but – but then again, it was _Zoro_. There were still only guys around! Even _if_ it made sense that it mattered a little now when it never did before, he wasn't sure he liked that. He fumed for a few more moments, then turned his head back and forth, listening for new sounds. But nothing had changed – nobody was approaching, or waking up (and even if they did wake up, that was just Luffy and Chopper, so that would be okay).

Then he quickly made a decision, pulled off his green swim shorts and threw them towards Zoro, who caught them with one hand over his head. "Okay, _fine_! Since you're offering and all!" Mostly, perhaps, to prove that it didn't really matter even now, that he didn't really care.

Zoro didn't even have the decency to look smug. He put the shorts to one side, at the top of the shrinking pile of unwashed clothes, then kept scrubbing his well-worn dark green trousers with an air of intense concentration. Admittedly, those trousers needed that, Usopp thought as he once again leaned his folded arms on the edge of the tub and watched while Zoro worked. Maybe, just maybe there was a new shade of pink on Zoro's cheeks. Usopp hoped so, for his own pride at least. Then again, maybe that was just the heat.

No female crewmate popped up from out of nowhere to cause justified embarrassment, so Usopp settled down slightly. He kept watching Zoro, who didn't appear to mind; he saw the play of muscles on his arms and shoulders and, when Zoro moved a little, on his torso; the many tiny scars from wounds old and new, neatly sewn up by Chopper and thus barely visible; the big old scar across his chest that Mihawk had given him and where Usopp's own inexpert hands, with help from Johnny, had once closed the wound much too clumsily. But he'd lived.

And at Thriller Bark too, he had lived, even if it had been close, closer than ever before. Even though he had for never-explained reasons been so much worse hurt than the rest of them by the mysterious Shichibukai who'd just vanished afterwards. Zoro had taken so much longer to heal than usual, but now...

Well, now he himself insisted he was just fine. Back to normal. As he would. And most of the time he did seem okay, too. But Usopp had seen Chopper frown and bite his lips in quiet worry too many times now; and more disconcertingly, had caught flashes of similar anxiety in Sanji's eyes. Heck, he'd even heard a frustrated Zoro mutter, "Damn shit-cook's still holding back way too much" after one of his and Sanji's regular squabble-fights.

And Luffy – Luffy would sometimes get that look he had when he was too determined not to look worried.

Because Zoro just wouldn't let up and take it easier so he could heal for real. Instead he just kept pushing himself with constant training, even more demanding than he had before Thriller Bark. If he kept it up, his wounds might eventually open up...

_I should train harder, too._ The thought was a guilty one. After all, Usopp didn't doubt that Zoro's main motivator to get stronger was to protect his crew and captain better. It was true that Usopp did spend a fair amount of time making ammunition, tinkered with the dials to make Kabuto stronger and trying to come up with new ways of attacking. But he also knew he needed more arm strength, better endurance, and a lot more speed. Enemies who were fast enough to dodge his shots were the worst.

He let out a sigh that had nothing to do with pleasure.

"What?" said Zoro, not looking at him. He was busy washing those very swimming shorts of Usopp by now, the sniper realised.

"...Nothing," he mumbled. After all, there'd be no pointing in saying, _Stop training so hard, we're all worried about you!_ or _Just take it easy and chill_. Let alone _Stop being so dedicated, it makes me feel guilty!_ – he had to smile at that one, despite himself.

Instead he found himself blurting out, "You look cute that way."

Zoro snorted, giving him an almost-flat, Zoro-esque look. He shifted position, angling his head so he could see more of Usopp. "So do you."

Usopp flushed, though he should have seen that coming. That was only teasing, right? With a bit of flirt in it maybe? Somehow the thought of looking cute for real was even more blush-worthy than getting your nakedness pointed out by the guy you had a thing for.

"Of– of course I am!" he managed, nose in air haughtily. "Why, my nose alone has won seven beauty pageants in a row! It is fêted among cuteness connoisseurs!" It wasn't a very good effort, but it was the best he could do right now.

"Anyway," he added, "you should do that more often." By which he meant less "you should do your laundry more often" – although it was true, he should do that – and more "you should spend more time next to me half-naked and soapy while everyone else is busy elsewhere or asleep".

This time Zoro did smile as he looked at him, his head turned back with a glint of challenge in his eyes. "Yeah? Think so?"

Usopp nodded emphatically. "Uh-huh! Only next time you could just wear shorts. Or, or just go with a towel." Wait, maybe that was going too far...

But Zoro actually laughed. Only a short bark, but still a far-too-rare sound that was nice to hear.

"Well. Maybe," he said after a moment, voice held low. He sounded warm and hoarse and... a little wanting.

Usopp's pulse speeded up, but he only nodded, flashed a bright smile of his own and stretched out again, feet splashing. Alas, the water was fairly lukewarm by now. "Good."

He closed his eyes, breathing in the smells of the sea, ship, swordsman and laundry; he wanted the minutes to go faster and the seconds to slow down at the same time. He didn't even mind the heat as much anymore.

There was no need to say anything, was there? In a few minutes, the pile of clothes would be gone. Once that was over, Usopp would get out from the tub, grab the towel at last, and go help Zoro hang up the last few clothes on the lines. He'd check to see if the knots were well-done, too.

Then, before the others woke up or came over, he'd lead Zoro to a private spot, probably his own workshop below deck. For a more enjoyable kind of exercise, and the very best distraction he could offer.


End file.
